Building Endurance

This morning’s 60 minute bike ride turned into 85 minutes, thanks to 20+ mph headwind. It’s nice to have the trade winds back, but it would sure be more convenient if they would wait until 8:30 a.m. or so to pick up like that. I just kept telling myself, “It could be just like this on race day, so keep going.” I need to keep building my endurance. And despite the longer than usual ride, I kept my appointment with the pool at lunch today.

A little back-story: I have never been a good swimmer. Recently, I emailed a local swim coach and, when she asked me to describe my ability I told her, “Advanced dog paddle.” I can stay afloat, get myself to the other side of the pool, snorkel for hours, but I never really learned how to swim “correctly.” A lot of it has to do with the fact that I don’t like putting my face in the water.

My mom took me to the obligatory swimming lessons when I was a kid. You remember me, don’t you? The one they couldn’t keep IN the pool – I got out and ran to my mom whenever the coach turned her back. They disentangled me and plopped me right back in the water until the next time she turned her back, and so on.

I managed to learn something, however, since I passed the class, although that final test was a doozie. You had to jump off both the low diving board and the HIGH diving board to pass. The low dive was fine, but I climbed the high dive, crept out to the end of the board and decided I was not going to jump. My return path to the ground was blocked by my remaining classmates, all who were climbing the ladder one after the other. All lined up, impatiently waiting for me to take my turn. After what felt like about an hour, but probably only amounted to 2-3 minutes, the lifeguard came up the ladder and jumped with me. Pass.

Which brings me to today. I realized as I entertained the thought of entering a triathlon that I was going to have to improve my swimming. From everything I’ve read, it appears that I am not alone, either. I found someone who is giving me lessons once a week, but I need practice days too, which is what took me to the pool today.

I’ve been going to the same pool for lessons and practice for a couple of weeks now. I am lucky in that it is right across the street from my work – convenient for lunch time swims. It is never crowded and, best of all, its FREE! As I hacked my way through the water, practicing mostly on breathing and kicking – my assignments for the week – I realized my legs were very tired from the long ride this morning. I just kept telling myself, “I am building endurance,” and kept going. As I left the water, one of the lifeguards came up and told me that I was making progress. I sure appreciated her unsolicited comments…it made my day!

My intention for these lessons and practice is to learn to swim easily and fast enough to finish the 1500m under the time allowed. If I can pass one swimmer along the way, even better!

60-in-60 Catch Up

We are supposed to report our daily activity and heart rate for the 60-in-60 Challenge, and I have been slacking off lately. I generally post this information to our "BE FIT CLUB" page on Facebook, but my interest in FB is waning a bit, so here I am.

The terms of the challenge are to do 60 minutes of cardio exercise each day, within your own specific 60-80% of your max heart rate. So, my max heart rate is 178 (220 minus my age), and my range is 107-142. Here is my update:

• Day 37: 75 minute hike at Kapalua with Gina, avg hr 123 (because of the extreme ups and downs for this terrain, we agreed on reporting an average of our low and high rates).
• Day 38: 60 minute trail hike in Olinda with Bruce and Cody, hr range 109-132.
• Day 39: 60 minute bike - Mokulele Hwy - hr range 108-140
• Day 40: 30 minutes hill power walk with Cody - still have 30 minutes to go tonight.

I am nursing a cranky knee, so need to go light on the running at least through the end of this week. I'll try a nice slow run on Saturday.

Getting Started

Welcome! I hope you'll follow me as I train for the upcoming South Maui Triathlon on Sunday, June 13, in Wailea, Maui, Hawaii.

This is my first attempt at a tri. Since I don't want to bore my family and friends to death with training/racing/dieting talk all the time, I figured this would be a good outlet for me.

I am currently finishing a "60-in-60" challenge with my friends at work - 60 minutes of cardio a day for 60 days straight - in addition to my regular power lifting schedule of 4x per week and yoga 2x per week. My "official" 12-week training schedule for the race starts March 22.